DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News ) – As the arctic blast continues to blanket the region, the City of Dallas updated residents on the storm’s impact on Friday.
Officials admitted the below freezing temperatures and high winds are taking a toll on the Metroplex, but said the situation is nothing like last year’s deadly Winter Storm Uri.
“We have 42 meter leaks and then we have 19 burst pipes that have been reported,” said Estella Ornelas with Dallas Water Utilities.
She said that have staff at the ready to deal with those issues. The Metroplex did experience some brief power outages Thursday night and Friday morning.
Oncor reported about 18,000 customers without power Friday morning and said they have crews working around the clock working to get residents back online.
Dallas Office of Emergency Management officials said they’re also monitoring the outages.
“The outages that have been reported have been restored relatively quickly. That’s always the biggest concerns in an event like this and so we’re keeping a very close watch on that and of course ERCOT, but thus far the outages have all been wind-weather related and resolved pretty swiftly,” said the spokesman.
The city said local shelters continue to fill up as the extreme cold lingers.
Christine Crossley with the ‘Dallas Office of Homeless Solutions’ said nearly 500 people stayed in Dallas shelters last night. The city and its partners are preparing for more tonight.
“Tonight we will be opening a library shelter that’s an additional 250 and tomorrow we anticipate moving to Fair Park collectively and that will be over a thousand in terms of space we can utilize,” she said.
Temperatures are expected to dip into the teens Friday night and the region will begin to warm up to highs near 42 and lows near 30 on Christmas Day.
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